APPLICATIONS FOR REVIEW OF RESULTS (APPEALS)

The following conditions apply to applications for a review of Junior Cycle results (appeals):

(i) Applications will be accepted only from the School Authority.

(ii) The SEC does not accept appeal applications or appeal fees directly from candidates, parents or individual teachers.

(iii) With the reintroduction of appeal fees, each appeal review carries a fee of €32 per subject. (Details of the payment of the fees are below).

(iv) To raise an appeal, the Principal (or authorised representative), must attest that the examination result attained by the candidate is significantly at variance with the school’s considered judgement of the performance of the candidate concerned at the examination in question.

(v) For the reason set out in (iv), the SEC will not accept School or Class based appeal applications.

(vi) A valid appeal consists of both the appeal application form, duly authorised by the Principal, and the payment from the school. School authorities should complete the procedures in both A and B below. Applications received where payment has been made by the candidate/parent will not be accepted.

(vii) It is the school’s responsibility to ensure that the appeal fee is collected from the individual candidates. A. Complete the Appeal Application Form The application form can be downloaded from www.examinations.ie, completed,scanned, and submitted to the SEC by the deadline by email. A valid appeal will require the signature of the Principal certifying that the appeal is warranted as set out at (iv) above. 4 The application form should state the examination number and name of each candidate for whom an appeal is considered warranted and the subject and level being appealed.

All applications for appeal should be emailed to appeals@examinations.ie no later than 5 PM on Tuesday 15 October, 2024. B. Pay the Junior Cycle Appeal Fees A fee of €32 per Subject per applicant must accompany each appeal application. The payment must be made by the school in respect of their candidates and will not be accepted from candidate/parents/guardians.

The fee will be refunded to the school if, on review, the candidate’s work is deemed to merit the award of a higher grade. Fees must be paid via EFT to the account below before the closing date of 5 PM on Tuesday 15 October:

Bank Sort Code: 901634 Account No.: 57817003 Bank Address: Bank of Ireland, Church St., Athlone BIC No.: BOFIIE2D IBAN No.: IE44 BOFI 90163457817003

You must include a description on the bank transfer, which will allow us to identify the school, as follows: JC [School Roll Number] A valid appeal is comprised of both the application, completed as set out above, and payment which can be linked to your school through the roll number on the bank transfer description. Appeal applications received after the closing date, or without the fee having been paid by the school authority, will not be considered.

SPHE Update

• The new Junior Cycle SPHE curriculum specification was introduced in September 2023 for all first years. It has four strands: Understanding Myself and Others; Making Healthy Choices; Relationship and Sexuality; and Emotional Wellbeing. You can view it here. 
• Teaching and learning with the new curriculum is designed to be appropriate for the age and stage of development of students, whether in first year, second year or third year. This is based on research and the extensive public consultation led by the NCCA in 2022. The report of the consultation is here. 
• Any suggestion that teachers would be expected to teach or introduce explicit content or topics is false. The curriculum categorically does not expose children to graphic or explicit content, or normalise the use of pornography. On the contrary, key messages would be that pornography is not a good place to go to learn about sex, that it can be disturbing and even damaging for young people, and that it is incompatible with values of human dignity, respect and gender equality. 
• The NCCA has published an information note for parents about the Junior Cycle SPHE curriculum on its website. It can be accessed here.
• There is also an NCCA information note for parents on the new Senior Cycle SPHE specification, which will be introduced in schools by 2027.
• The Graduate Diploma in SPHE/RSE is provided by Dublin City University (DCU) Institute of Education. This programme aims to upskill post-primary teachers of SPHE/RSE for classes to Senior Cycle level. It was developed following a tendering process, and is fully academically accredited through DCU’s quality assurance processes for any new programme.
• Teachers participating in the DCU programme will be involved in critical exploration of resources and content related to SPHE, including examples used internationally as well as material accessed by children and young adults directly.
• As such, the material studied and viewed by teachers on the course is provided to them as adults and it is clearly understood that no inappropriate graphic or explicit material should ever be used in a classroom setting. 
• It is understood that a video has been circulating suggesting that teachers will be expected to introduce certain explicit and inappropriate topics and materials in the classroom. The Department of Education and DCU have confirmed this is categorically not the case.
• In direct response to teachers’ request for support for classroom teaching of SPHE, the NCCA created three online toolkits – one for primary, one for junior cycle and one for senior cycle teachers. All three are available on www.curriculumonline.ie  . These resources are carefully selected for Irish classrooms and mapped out according to the age and stage of learners.  Teachers are advised to judge the relevance and appropriateness of each resource in the context of their students’ unique needs, stage of development and school context.
• In accordance with Section 30 of the Education Act, 1998, parents have a right to have their children opt out of classes which are contrary to the conscience of the parent if they so wish

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Please remember that when you log on to report that your child will be absent, you must give a reason for the absence.

Without giving a reason, you are simply acknowledging that you are aware of the absence. 

Furthermore, if no reason is given, the system will record it as unexplained. 

These casual absences can accumulate very quickly. 

The teaching staff will be on a training day on Thursday 17th October. The school will be closed on this day.

Can parent(s)/guardian(s) please submit the medical form for their child via the school app.